Portal

Foreword

This story is for enjoyment purposes only - I was trying to write a dramatic and tense bit of fiction, not to depict what
I think would actually happen if the USS Enterprise met the Star Wars Empire. In "reality" (strange word to use in this context!), I think that the events
here would go MUCH more in Starfleet's favour, but pushing that argument is emphatically NOT what this story is for.

The Alpha-quadrant part of the story is set early in Deep Space Nine's sixth season. The story begins shortly after the war
with the Dominion started and about six months after the events of "Star Trek : First Contact". Chapter Six ends some time before the events seen
in the Deep Space Nine episode "Favour the Bold".

The Star Wars portion is set a few months before "The Empire Strikes Back".

Although this story is naturally not canon, I have made every possible effort to keep it strictly in line with the known
technology and events of both the Startrek and Star Wars universes. So far as I know, 'Portal' does not contain one single canon violation of
either Trek or Wars - with one proviso. So far as I am concerned, the ONLY parts of the Wars franchise that are canon are the three Special Edition
versions of the movies. I don't care what it says in the reference books, novels, scripts, comics, or anything else. The reason I don't care is that
George Lucas has been quoted as saying that he will feel free to deliberately contradict these sources in future films if he feels like it - as far as
I am concerned, that means that they are not canon. "Official" simply does not count, and "canon unless contradicted" is simply absurd. If you don't
like that then that's your prerogative, but don't bother e-mailing arguments to me because I've heard it all before in spades and it doesn't change
a thing.

Without giving anything away, I'm aware that a certain central character is left rather lost and cut off from home at the end of this story. I haven't
decided what to do with this character yet, but I am mulling over ideas for further parts. If you'd like to read more, feel free to e-mail me and
let me know.

So read on and enjoy. And if you don't... well hey, it's only a story.